Schengen Visa

[Admin]

Oftentimes guys will want to meet a girl from the FSU in a different country. Common meeting locations are Turkey, Cypress and even Egypt, to name a few.

The Schengen Agreement is a pact between 15 European countries that allows free movement between these countries, hence, if a person is granted a visa to one of the countries, they are legally able to visit any of the 15 countries unfettered.

A good description of the Schengen Agreement can be found at this German website: http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/www/en/willkommen/einreisebestimmungen/schengen_html

It seems there are only a few BASIC requirements to apply for a Schengen visa - although there are a multitude of options. For simplicity sake, I will outline a plan based on only one of many possibilities.

If a lady from the FSU were to wish to travel to one of the Schengen countries, here is what she would need:

Valid international passport
Demonstrate available funds (varies by country, but assume 50 Euro per day)
Demonstrate reason for visa - (holiday/excursion, visit with friends, etc.)
Proof of travel tickets (copies of airline/train reservations)
Proof of accommodations (copies of hotel reservations or invitation from friends)
Proof of insurance (health and repatriation insurance in the amount of 30,000 Euros)

Here are the other considerations:

Which country to apply? There are currently 15 countries signatory to the Schengen Agreement, with more to be added in the future. Those 15 are: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Sweden.

Of these, my *guess* is that the Scandinavian countries (Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland) would be easiest for Russian citizens (due to proximity and historical ties). Rumor has it that Italy and Spain are relatively lenient, and Bruno (one of our board members) is from Belgium and claims nearly 100 per cent success rate through Belgian authorities.

The costs for visa application are approximately 35 Euro for a Type C2 Schengen visa application, which (if successful) results in a visa good for up to 90 days within a 6-month period.

Also, the time necessary to process the Schengen visa application is 3 months for the first one - subsequent visas are easier to acquire and require less time to process.

OK guys - that is my understanding. Please feel free to jump in and correct anything that may be inaccurate or incomplete.

Remember, it is recognized that there are MANY, MANY options of Schengen visas. This is merely one possible scenario in which I tried to outline the MAJOR considerations.

I hope it is helpful.

- Dan

[Bruno]

About schenghen... all is right now will be changed tommorrow... Europa is changing a lot the last time... now, they speak about Turkey be in Europa ( first muslim country... moderated but muslim )... maybe in short time, we go have our first european constitution....

About the price of visa, it is now the same for each country you apply... because the level of life is around the same in the 15... the prove of fund will be in short time the same... in 2006, some ex communist country will be in schenghen system...

And because the opening of Ukraine to the western country ( new president with help of 68 million $ ), it is now very easy to have a visa to ukraine for european and American...

In short, the information i type now are not more update the next second... keep always a eyes on the official website from gouverment...

Shengen visa is not expensive, easy to receive, can be fast, simple to ready ... the only problem is the choice from type of shengen visa... and for each type, you have some veriation...

Usually, visa is refuse because incomplete document, don't meet the condition, of for security reason...

Because my english is not perfect, i go try to post several URL from official site of past text from other site ( a lot of site with interesting information die each day... )... see the link of Dan in the previous post... already a error code 404...

For begin, the main door for Euro visa ( shengen ) is http://www.eurovisa.info/ ... select the country desired send you to the diplomatic site of the country... just browse to visa section...

And please, post detailed and specific questions... a general question can only lead to writing a book because so much possibility are possible...

And below, the information about country who need visa, passport, ...

Who requires a visa?
Whether a prospective visitor requires a visa depends on his nationality and how long he intends to stay in the EU. Nationals of many countries require a visa for an uninterrupted stay of up to three months.

Countries whose nationals need a visa for a stay of under three months

Afghanistan
Albania
Algeria
Angola
Antigua and Barbuda
Armenia
Azerbaijan
Bahamas
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Barbados
Belarus
Belize
Benin
Bhutan
Bosnia-Hercegovina
Botswana
Burma (see Myanmar)
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cambodia
Cameroon
Cape Verde Islands
Central African Fepublic
Chad
China (People's Republic)
Colombia
Comoros
Congo (Democratic Republic)
Congo (Brazzaville)
Côte d'Ivoire
Cuba
Djibouti
Dominica
Dominican Republic
East Timor
Ecuador
Egypt
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
Ethiopia
Fiji Islands
Gabon
Gambia
Georgia
Ghana
Grenada
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau
Guyana
Haiti
India
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Jamaica
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Kyrgystan
Kiribati
Kuwait
Laos
Lebanon
Lesotho
Liberia
Libya
Macedonia
Madagascar
Malawi
Maldives
Mali
Marshall Islands
Mauritania
Mauritius
Micronesia
Moldavia
Mongolia
Morocco
Mozambique
Myanmar (formerly Burma)
Namibia
Nauru
Nepal
Niger
Nigeria
Northern Marianas (Islands)
North Korea
Oman
Pakistan
Palau
Papua New Guinea
Peru
Philipines
Qatar
Russia
Rwanda
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Salomon Islands
São Tomé and Principe
Saudi Arabia
Senegal
Serbia and Montenegro
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
Somalia
South Africa
Sri Lanka
Sudan
Suriname
Swaziland
Syria
Tajikistan
Taiwan (Republic of China)
Tanzania
Thailand
Togo
Tonga
Trinidad and Tobago
Tunisia
Turkey
Turkmenistan
Tuvalu
Uganda
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
Uzbekistan
Vanuatu
Vietnam
West Samoa
Yemen
Zambia
Zimbabwe

Countries whose nationals do not require a visa for a stay of three months or less

Andorra
Argentina
Austria
Australia
Bolivia
Brazil
Brunei
Bulgaria
Canada
Chile
Costa Rica
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
El Salvador
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany (Federal Republic)
Greece
Guatemala
Honduras
Hungary
Iceland
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Japan
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Malaysia
Malta
Mexico
Monaco
New Zealand
Nicaragua
Norway
Panama
Paraguay
Poland
Portugal
Romania
San Marino
Singapore
Slovakia
Slovenia
South Korea
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
United Kingdom
United States of America
Uruguay
Vatican City
Venezuela

I have more than one nationality. Do I require a visa?
If you have more than one nationality, whether you require a visa depends on which travel document you intend to travel on. If it is a passport of a country whose nationals require a visa, you will also require a visa even if you have another nationality for which no visa is required. The country in which you are residing is irrelevant to whether you require a visa, although you must be residing legally in the country in which you submit your application.

I have a travel document issued by a third country. Do I require a visa?
Yes. Persons with travel documents for aliens and refugees issued by third countries always require a visa no matter what their nationality or which country issued these documents. An exception is made for refugees with travel documents issued by 16 European countries: Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

Nationals of certain countries also require an airport transit visa to change aircraft at a EU airport, even though they do not actually enter EU territory.

Countries whose nationals need an airport transit visa

Afghanistan
Angola
Bangladesh
DR Congo
Eritrea
Ethiopia
Gambia
Ghana
Guinea
Iran
Iraq
Nigeria
Pakistan
Sierra Leone
Sudan
Somalia
Sri Lanka
Syria

I want to stay in the EU for longer than three months. What do I require?
To stay for an uninterrupted period of more than three months, you will require a special visa called an authorisation for temporary stay (MVV). Such a visa is required by the nationals of all countries except the EU member states and a few other countries.

Countries whose nationals do not need an MVV for a stay of over three months

Australia
Austria
Belgium
Canada
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Iceland
Ireland
Italy
Japan
Liechtenstein
Luxembourg
Monaco
New Zealand
Norway
Portugal
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
United Kingdom
United States

For which countries is a Schengen visa valid?
On 26 March 1995, the Convention applying the Schengen Agreement came into force in seven countries. Since then, more countries have joined the Schengen Area. There are now 15 Schengen countries, with no border controls between them: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden.

Visitors to any one of these countries receive a uniform visa valid for travel to all 15 of them. The Schengen countries have also harmonised their conditions for entry and their policy on countries whose nationals require a visa to visit the Schengen Area.

As of May 1^st, 2004, ten new member states  joined the European Union: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Cyprus, Hungary, Poland, Tjech Republic, Slowakia and Slovenia. The current external Schengen-border will remain unchanged for the moment. A Schengenvisa is not valid for the new member states. The new member states will issue national visa until further notice and no Schengenvisa.

Some visitors are permitted to enter the territory of only one Schengen country or a limited number of them (such as the Benelux countries). A Schengen country may issue such a visitor with a visa valid only for that country or for a specified number of Schengen countries.

PS: Benelux is Belgium, Netherlands, Luxemburg ... Benelux is prior to EU... and is the basis of EU

[BC]

For Italy you still have to meet the basic requirements, but being a very popular tourist country chances are there will be no problems. The Italian Consulate in Moscow processes between four and six hundred visas each day. One lesser known fact is that if you are an Italian citizen you can marry your RW in-country and in most cases it is possible for her to overstay her tourist visa until her residency paperwork is finished.  The EU requires immigrants to apply for a visa in the foreign country, but the italian authorities can 'convert' that visa into a visa for family reunion..  Did not try it ourselves since I'm only a permanent resident and not a citizen but our lawyer suggested this possibility even for us.  We wanted to marry in RU anyway so wasn't a big deal.

[Bruno]

All write up is not only true with Italy but with all Europa...

The basic tourist visa is maximum three month... but it can be prolong for three other month at the foreign office from the gast country....

If during the stay, the RW marry with a resident of the country, she receive a temporary identity card ( white card ) who allow her to stay six month more... the time for paperwork... since the paperwork is in order, she receive a identity card for stranger ( yellow card ) valid for 5 year... since she stay married, these card is prolong each five year...

After sometime married together ( not the same for all country from EU ), she can ask the nationality from the stay country... and she receive a citizen identity card ( green card : european identity card )

[2tallbill]

If your an American and want an FSUW to visit you. First get a Schengen Visa
for your girl.

NOTE: This is not for your first meeting for me this was for
what would have been our 5th meeting.

A Schengen Visa used properly shows the US visa types that your girl has traveled
to a first world country with public money for poor people and went back home like
she was supposed to.

I was going to meet Angel Eyes and Smiley Girl in Spain. They went through the paperwork, 
I sent them some bank account money so they would have enough to get the VISA and then
a week or so before the trip was going to happen, I lost my job. My number one job was to
get another job so that I could keep pursuing Angel Eyes, so I stayed home and both girls
went to Spain and got their passports stamped.

I had travelled 4 times to see Angel Eyes in Russia.

The next application was for Angel Eyes to visit me in the USA with Smiley Girl staying home
with Mamma.

You can read my entire story in the link below but Angel Eyes coming to the USA on her
VISA starts approximately on page 29
http://www.russianwomendiscussion.com/index.php?topic=3432.700